The Better to Eat You With: The Red Journals

by Cara Villar

  “Oh-my-God!” I bounced and clapped. “I might already have an enquiry about whoever you’re hunting!” I grabbed both their arms. “Let’s go! The sooner we get my stuff the better!”

  Felix pulled free. “Red, I really don’t think—”

  “Actually,” Osiris stopped too, and I huffed and looked between them, “this might be a good idea—”

  “What?”

  “Really?”

  “Fresh eyes, different skill set. And,” he held up his hand when Felix went to speak, “she does have skills, Felix.” He spun on his heel then, hands linked behind his back as if he were just out for a stroll, without another word of explanation. “She goes with you to Chicago.”

  “Osiris!” The white-haired Vampire didn’t answer, and Felix turned a scowl on me as I beamed and bounced. “You,” he jutted a finger at me, “will do exactly as I say.”

  I arched a brow at the finger.

  “When I say it.”

  I snapped my teeth at the finger, then linked my arm in his, too happy about getting my stuff and going hunting—both very favorable pastimes—to care how grouchy having a partner made him.

  “You’ll never find a more helpful accomplice,” I told him, meandering in Osiris’s path.

  Felix frowned. “Only criminals have accomplices.”

  I just grinned up at him.

  6

  You’d be surprised by how much of the Vampire propaganda is literally what it pertains to be: fiction. A lot of it has been encouraged by Vampires themselves over the centuries, falsehoods that deter mortals from ever knowing that Vampires walk among them, as freely as the Gentry, Weres, Shifters and Ghouls. There are telltale signs that mark them for what they are, and humans do have an innate ‘feeling’ upon encountering such a being as an Immortal, telling them they’re different. Dangerous. Though, more often than not, humans do not know what it is about a certain individual that makes them so…otherworldly.

  Some do not heed their instinct, which happens more often than you’d think. Some benefit from it, since most Immortals merely seek human company for blood or sex. Attaining either, for some species, definitely can’t be snuffed at by the mortal kind given the euphoric benefits. Others, however, are not so fortunate. I once had to hunt down a rogue Gentry—a fairy—for a Fae Lord. Fairies are tricksters by nature, wily and cunning, but they have to be. I would say it is part of their nature, but it is actually a keen sense of self, developed over an Immortal lifetime and honed in the political courts of the Fae for a very special reason.

  Gentry cannot lie. So they manipulate, coerce, bargain, and generally twist the truth is such a way as to make it a goddamned art. Suffice as to say, never bargain with a Fae. You’ll always lose.

  Mortals, have no defense against a fairy’s beauty. Everything about them draws you to them, whether they mean you harm or not. This particular rogue Fae was…twisted. He lured in unsuspecting women and enchanted them, making carefully worded promises, like ‘give me your credit card details and I’ll ensure you get everything you deserve’. He then proceeded to make off with each woman’s worldly possessions. Be it car, money, furniture, clothing, food, whatever. He was a menace to human kind, and made no effort to conceal what he was, thereby endangering the Gentry. My job had been to bring him in and let the Fae Courts doll out their own justice. Which I had done. I had pretended to be totally enamored by his charm, looks and Fae magic, and then whacked him on the head, bound, gagged, and blindfolded him, then returned him to his Lord.

  I got paid, and I received a stunning obsidian butterfly pendant as my bonus. It was also enchanted, which I had removed. It was supposed to keep me coming back time and time again to that Fae Lord. Apparently, I had my own kind of magic.

  Snicker, snicker.

  Anywhoo, I digress. The existence of Vampires very much stems from folklore and myth that is mostly mistruths and slander. Though it is encouraged. Humans believe Vampires are killed by beheading and staking—true, but it’s a bit more involved than that. They think garlic, crosses and holy water will deter them—complete and utter bollocks. My Grandmother could kill Vampires better than you. They think Vampires subsist solely off human blood—true, but they aren’t killers. Mostly they’re alcoholics. Why would you kill off your only food source?

  Mortals also think that daylight hours are safe, and that night is the only time to worry about locking your doors and windows. Again, bollocks. For one, Vampires gain certain abilities as they mature, but mind control is there from Making. You didn’t think all those golden sparks in their eyes were for nothing did you? And as for sunlight, well, the Vampire driving my truck looked utterly divine with all that crystalline, opalescent skin glittering and shimmering in the light of day as we pulled into the circular driveway outside my house. I could almost feel sorry for mortals, since they couldn’t see it.

  Still don’t like another Immortal knowing where I live. Shudder, heebie-jeebies, shudder.

  “This is it?” Felix asked as he turned off the engine. He wouldn’t give me the keys. What did he think I was gonna do? Drive off? Ha! My truck is nifty, but it’s got jack-shit compared to Vampire speed. He’d probably just turn it on its roof anyways.

  “Yes. This is my house,” I replied, pushing my door open and hopping out. He nodded and pushed his door open. “Whoa, what are you doing?”

  He’s not seriously coming in with me is he?

  “Going in with you,” he replied, as if it were a given.

  I stared at him across the seats as I planted a fist on my hip. “Uh, no. I don’t think so.”

  He arched a fine brow. “Why not?”

  “For one,” I scowled, “you’ll set off all my alarms. Immortals do not come into my house.” I slammed my door shut and walked around to the front of the truck.

  He met me there and folded his arms.

  “For another,” I continued, ignoring the delicious bulging of his biceps, “I don’t want you in there, poking around all my stuff.” I gesticulated irritably to emphasize my point.

  He just shook his head and smiled indulgently.

  Patronizing bastard.

  “I’m coming in, pet,” he told me, taking my shoulders and turning my scowling self towards the house. “Now, go unlock the door.” He slapped my backside when I didn’t move fast enough, and to my indignation, I yelped.

  “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Feeling rather plucky about what was about to happen, I unlocked my door, stepped inside, and went to the security panel. I knew he wouldn’t wait, knew I wouldn’t stop the system attacking him, knew it was gonna hurt like hell. And I relished it.

  Even if I disabled the panel in record time, the instant Felix crossed the threshold, a high frequency screech would rip through the house. So, when he sauntered in, that’s exactly what happened. Instantly, he was hissing in pain and dropping to his knees, hands gripping his head. The debilitating sound was so high, not even my wolfy ears could detect it, although it did make fine hairs stand up all over my body. However, Vampires were particular sensitive to this type of frequency, because it was aimed specifically at the cerebral cortex, right where Vampires develop the majority, if not all, of their mind-control abilities.

  I do so love my cutesy, purring genius techy person.

  Sighing, figuring it probably wasn’t diplomatic to let my new accomplice writhe on the floor like a slug in salt, I flipped up the touch screen interface and leisurely input all the security protocols and turned off the ‘Mosquito’.

  Felix slumped to the floor, bracing on his hands, blood trickling from his ears and nose. I’m pretty sure I even heard the faint, shuddering beat of his heart giving him a resounding WTF?

  I kicked out a hip and crossed my arms, arching a brow that basically screamed, ‘I told you so’.

  He lifted his head and glared at me, then slowly came to his feet, and cracked his neck.

  Ew.

  “That,” he remarked steadily, wiping away blood from his ear, “was a
new experience.” He looked around as if bracing for a giant bolder to come rolling down my hallway, Indiana Jones style, then used his shirt sleeve to wipe his nose.

  I snorted and turned away, heading for my bedroom to pack some clothes. My clothes.

  “Humbling, isn’t it?” I snickered, then stopped and spun back to him, pointing. “Don’t touch anything, I’ll be right back.”

  Before I even got to my bedroom, I already had an inventory of my wardrobe, and had itemized it so that I knew exactly what I was packing. While I was packing clothes, shoes, wash stuff and multiple red coats, my mind was listing all the other things I needed to do. Like remove my laptop hard drive and secure my laptop in the safe, as well as pack my iPad and chargers so I could access client enquiries on the go. Mentally cataloguing my DVD collection and deciding which ones to take with me. I even packed my pillows because, let’s face it, no pillows are better than one’s own pillows. I also needed to seriously raid my weapons store. However much I loved my bracelets, I doubt a few knives, a couple of guns, and a few cartridges of liquid silver and titanium tipped bullets, wouldn’t go amiss.

  And, though I loathed admitting it out loud, a part of me was anticipating impressing Felix with my collection.

  Shivers.

  After changing into my own underwear, boyfriend jeans, a dove grey button down and DC high top trainers, and running my own brush through my hair, I pulled up the handle on my small suitcase, slung an empty pack over my shoulder, grabbed my red duffel coat, and head back out to the hallway.

  Felix was no longer standing before my door.

  I frowned, and glanced into the kitchen, then my lounge—grabbing DVD’s on the way—and then headed down to my study. Felix was there, filling my work space with his tantalizing scent of ice and anise as he roamed past my bookshelves and fingered my paperwork.

  “Thought I told you not to touch anything?” I grouched, opening up my pack and dropping it on the desk.

  “How many jobs do you usually take on in a month?” he asked, still fingering my neat pile of completed jobs awaiting money clearance.

  I frowned as I removed the hard drive from my laptop, before shooing him away and taking the re-tidied pile away.

  I moved over to bookcase, “Enough to keep me in the style of living I’m accustomed to.” I pushed in Robert Southey’s edition of Goldilocks and the Three Bears— when Goldilocks was a crafty old woman rather than a twit of a little girl—and a full section of my bookcase popped out, and then slid to the right, revealing my little safe.

  Felix instantly peered over my shoulder as I tried to quickly and covertly type in the override code. As I swung it open, I removed my iPad, and handed it to him, then slid my laptop and pile of paperwork in its place.

  “You must really like your technology.” I heard him mutter before spinning to face him.

  The soft hum of the bookcase sliding back into place at my back assured me all was locked up and safe, as I observed him flicking through files on my iPad. I snatched it out of his hands.

  “What did I say about touching?” I snapped, powering the iPad down.

  “You handed it to me.” One side of his mouth quirked up, hinting at a dimple.

  My eyes latched onto it like a starving person to a breadcrumb. His grin grew, and the hint of a dimple became a matching set. I yanked my eyes away and scowled hard at him, wondering suspiciously if he was trying to bait me. I hadn’t forgotten the effect his lips, his sniffing and softly murmured words had had on me in the woods that morning, and the close proximity in my own territory was making me antsy. My wolf side disliked him being there, spreading his scent around like he was marking me as his. I didn’t want to be marked up. I also didn’t want anyone thinking I belonged to anyone but me.

  Blah.

  I moved to my desk, and slid the iPad and a few other gadgets into my bag. “Technology makes my job easier and safer, I have the money for it, and my tech wizard likes me.” I gave Felix a wry grin. “I make him purr.”

  His eyes narrowed as he shifted closer to me, suddenly all stiff and imposing.

  “Who is he? Your boyfriend?” he asked, his tone a little sharp.

  Oh, oh, oh! What was this? Jealousy? Smells like cherry-cola. Who knew?

  “Why do you want to know?” I asked as I slid my pack onto my shoulder, giving him a wide-eyed, innocent look.

  His brows shot together as he squared his shoulders and shifted his eyes away from mine. “He could be useful.”

  Oh yeah, definitely jealousy. I inhaled and savored.

  I sauntered past him. “We have a mutually beneficial relationship, whereby at the end of each of our encounters we leave one another satisfied.” I knew I was yanking his chain, but it was just too fun to pass up. Girl’s gotta get her jollies somewhere, and it might as well be from an overly-charming, overly-arrogant, bossy Vampire with control issues.

  “So he gives you top of the line security. What do you give him?” he asked, hedging rather than just spitting it out.

  I set my pack down with my suitcase and then moved into the lounge towards the entertainment center. I grinned at him as I pointed the remote at the wall. “Whatever makes him purr.” I clicked a button, and a low hum sounded once again, as the whole entertainment system—flat screen, speakers, stereo, shelves holding vinyl, DVDs and CDs—started moving forward, separating from the wall.

  Felix arched a brow at me as I waltzed over to the side of it and walked down the steps into my secret weapons room. This house wasn’t advertised with a basement, so I’d had a secret one installed—mostly by myself. Shit like that is way easier when you’re epically strong. The expansive underground space held the majority of my weapons as well as a small training area where, once locked down here, I could just lose myself in pounding a punching bag or going for a run. The walls were reinforced and soundproof—a veritable safe room. It even had a little shower cubicle in the corner and a locker with spare gym clothes. My Vampire delighted in the solitude of it. My wolf growled.

  In the far corner, opposite the treadmill, punching bag and mat area, were my weapons cabinets—all built into the wall to optimize the space, and opened with a light brush or press of the fingertips. They also filled the whole wall. I grabbed the duffel by the locker and lugged the empty sack over to the steel cabinets.

  My fingers brushed a panel, and it popped open like a cupboard.

  “We’re not done talking about your tech wizard,” Felix grouched, finally following me down the stairs and across the mats. “What’s down—”

  I pulled open the cabinet all the way, revealing duplicates of small firearms, mostly glocks and berettas and the customized clips of titanium and silver, as well as one-of-a-kind modified tranquilizers.

  “—here…”

  Felix’s words trailed off and I smiled.

  “I do take my job very seriously, you know?” I said, popping two of each weapon into my bag, and several rounds of reloads. Then I stepped back, pressed my fingertips to the panels running along the bottom half of the wall, and let the drawer pop open.

  “I can see that. Bounty hunting must be pretty lucrative.” He popped open a cabinet, peering in with brows raised, then imitated what I did with the drawers as I selected a couple of throwing stars and spare chains for my wrists.

  “It has its moments.” I looked over at him. “And you forget, I’ve been at this a while.” Shrug. “A lot of the finer parts of my collection were gifts.” I pressed open another draw and retrieved a twin sword sheath and a utility belt.

  “You keep jewelry down here?” He asked then, flicking a finger at my wrists and the velvet bag I was putting the spare chains into.

  “You won’t like my answer,” I replied, carefully folding the pouch.

  “Why not?” he asked, and I looked at him.

  “Because then you’d know I’ve had a weapon on me the whole time I’ve been in your clan’s house.”

  His eyes narrowed, and then flickered down to his wrists. I co
uld see his mind trying to figure out how a couple of dainty little bracelets could be a weapon. I was sure there’d be an opportunity to show him in the future. I smiled brightly when his gaze returned to my face.

  “You’re a wily one, pet. I’ll give you that.” He turned away and meandered to another set of cabinets.

  Grinning to myself, I went back to selecting weapons. I tried to imagine every scenario, but having not heard what the mission was yet, I couldn’t adequately guess. Bugger it; I’ll just pack for any eventuality.

  “Bugger me.” I heard Felix murmur, and glanced up at him in surprise at the near mirroring of my thoughts.

  “What?” I asked, and his dark head popped out from behind a cabinet door.

  “A silver whip?” he drawled, incredulous.

  I laughed, and walked over to him, brushing my fingers over the glittering coil of silver. Ahhh…memories.

  “A gift from an Arabian Prince. He was a Vampire. Very old.” I smiled wryly. “He said I looked to have very good wrist action.”

  Felix barked out a laugh, the big smile taking him from gorgeous to heart-stopping in an instant. Jeepers, my knees all but buckled! Those lean dimples in his cheeks and the sparkle brightening his eyes to a dark lime made him positively devastating.

  “You ever use it?” he asked.

  I shrugged, a secret smile playing across my face. “I’ve dabbled.”

  “Been a bad kitty again, Red?” he asked, sexy brow arching.

  I leaned past him to close the cabinet doors. “Well, maybe if you’re really good, I just might show you just how good I can be, too.”

  Something blazed in his eyes, so fast I almost missed it. If not for the brief flicker of gold lightning, a hot flash in those emerald eyes giving it away before he returned his gaze to the whip, I’d never have seen it. I could have pretended I didn’t see, could have convinced both me and him that neither of us was attracted to the other, but the flare of interest in his eyes and the sudden rush of heat through my body blasted all that crap to hell.